


[Fandom stats] ASOIAF and GOT: shipping and more

by toastystats (destinationtoast)



Series: Fandom Stats [78]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Meta, Nonfiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2019-09-20 02:08:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17013546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/destinationtoast/pseuds/toastystats
Summary: I took a look at shipping, AUs, and more in A Song of Ice & Fire vs. Game of Thrones on AO3 in May 2014.  I also posted an update about shipping (especially Jon/Sansa) in July 2017.





	1. May 2014

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr:  
> [Part 1](http://destinationtoast.tumblr.com/post/87110671079/i-lost-the-original-ask-but)  
> [Part 2](http://destinationtoast.tumblr.com/post/163573298804/somebody-sent-an-anonymous-ask-a-while-back-asking)
> 
> Sorry for the low-resolution images from 2014.

I lost the original ask, but @somequeerdistortion asked for stats about A Song of Ice and Fire & Game of Thrones a while back.  Let's look at some Westerosi stats!  :D

All stats are taken from AO3.  I did not investigate every possible combination of characters, because in this world, that would take years.  ;) Instead, I looked at the top 10 for both fandoms, and also tossed in some other relationships I was curious about.  I've included the full list at the end.

Overall, shipping is very similar between versions.  Both fandoms are rare compared to AO3 overall in that they have a lot more F/M than any other relationship category (about 60% -- that's substantially [more than the percent of M/M on AO3 overall](http://destinationtoast.tumblr.com/post/52261319793/next-up-in-my-ongoing-series-on-ao3-stats-a)):

[ ](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipMAT7zwXxMhqV3gbtt6lgjn6ld26JG7Y0Np7kDY?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)

This makes some sense, given that many of the canon pairings and dyads of characters who interact frequently are F/M -- however, fandom has proven itself quite capable in other cases of creating ships (especially M/M ships) for characters who barely interact in canon, so I wasn't sure what to expect.  :)  

Here are the top 5 ships overall (same for both):

[ ](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipMiIyat_ncQkZkgqw52sWVoxafbsltz7BsAFhtM?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)

I would have expected Danaerys to appear somewhere in the top 10 ships, but the top 10 are all in Westeros.  And my favorite character, Tyrion, is apparently a rare character in fanfic.  There are relatively few fanworks devoted to him or his relationships.

Another way in which these fandoms differ from AO3 overall is the popularity of AUs:

[ ](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipPMEVT345FAMyOj0oKcE9p5QlW5CbmF6WuZailF?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)

This doesn't surprise me, given the grimness and amount of character death in the canon material.

Setting aside these popular AU tags, here are the other most common tags in these fandoms:

[](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipMR26nNya3cy4tNtddKFTwHFVfuB_4qDnV-uGg0?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)

The ones that stand out to me as being much less common on AO3 overall (not usually in the top 10) are: Future Fic, Sexual Content, and Sibling Incest.  Sexual Content is particularly interesting to me -- many stories contain sexual content, but the fandoms I'm most familiar with don't call it out with this tag.  Interesting example of how fandom norms differ.

One final note of interest:  Sansa/Willas and Robb/Jeyne still get written about in the GOT fandom, despite the fact that Willas and Jeyne are only characters in the books.  This may be due in part to mistagging the fandom, but it might also be due to people writing fusions of the two (very similar) stories.

Here's the full list I investigated:

[ ](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipOAl1nMb357rVImV1wjnpBc0rl73LLqIOHK3Fqe?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)


	2. July 2017

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An update focusing on shipping, and especially Jon/Sansa.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got a helpful [follow up response](http://destinationtoast.tumblr.com/post/163909445174/jonstarks-destinationtoast-somebody-sent-an) from @jonstarks giving more context for the trajectory of Jon/Sansa.

Somebody sent an anonymous ask a while back asking about my old [ASOIAF/Game of Thrones fandom stats](http://destinationtoast.tumblr.com/post/87110671079/i-lost-the-original-ask-but) post, and whether I could update it now that both canon and fandom ships have changed a bunch.  Tumblr just ate my reply. :(

I’m in the middle of some other projects and don’t have time for a deep dive into that fandom right now, but we can get a quick look by using [fandomstats.org](http://fandomstats.org/).  I’ve included just the shipping info here, but on the site you can see other data as well.

[](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipOsMii8Q_PqoXjcOl5CqI5JISUkjxkn0fcGF2WU?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)

[](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipNJ_GtBJPnKn_PA_9bJtD3vwFFj7ATj9a6Ak26U?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)

[](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipOJu5jJ0Y41UNlfzcuDfsattgOXm53H5EASVnYJ?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)

Things have changed a lot since back in [May 2014](http://destinationtoast.tumblr.com/post/87110671079/i-lost-the-original-ask-but), especially in terms of Jon/Sansa:

[](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipMiIyat_ncQkZkgqw52sWVoxafbsltz7BsAFhtM?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)

The nonny also asked where Jon/Sansa came from as a ship, which I’m afraid I can’t help with – I know the canon well, but have not been immersed in the fanworks and haven’t witnessed the evolution of this ship, or its dynamics ( _Edit:_ and even though they’re interacting a bunch on the show now, that’s more recent than the emergence of the ship).  If any fans more active in the fandom have theories, please chip in!  

If we look at the Jon/Sansa tag, we get the following top accompanying tags, which are interesting (warning: book/S6 show spoilers discussed below the cut):

[](https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNfIAP2nBhjNxva3s1oYWyv_nDghuCmNa8INN4wE96IKzjWYKtksd627_5d-6cisA/photo/AF1QipMORzbVNg7vOIEzy1lbs8uLP-IVj8kl-Ychix1d?key=UzBPVlZCQ3p1S1VnWHVkM2tDR3lQNGs2VmRBM3BR)

The modern setting AU is very common in the fandom overall (18% overall; 22% for this ship), so its popularity isn’t that surprising.  But from the popularity of the “R plus L equals J” and the “Cousin Incest” tags, it looks like lots of folks have been shipping them as cousins rather than sibs – even since back when that was just a fan theory.  Not that that explains the why, necessarily.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments welcome, but I’m in the middle of a massive fandom stats backup due to Tumblr purge, so I may be slow to respond.


End file.
